New taxon (and taxonomy) from Sereno's Science paper

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <th81@umail.umd.edu>]

Something I forgot from my previous posting:

Sereno coins a new taxon, Tyrannoraptora, defined as "_Tyrannosaurus_,
Neornithes, their most recent common ancestor, and all descendants."  A good
name (seems to me I've heard the phrase "tyrannoraptor" somewhere before...
:-).  Of the three main competing hypotheses of tyrannosaur origins, it is
useful (a non-synonym) in two:
Model I: Tyrannosauridae is outside _Ornithomimus_ + Neornithes. In this
case, Tyrannoraptora includes Maniraptoriformes.

Model II: Tyrannosauridae is closer to _Ornithomimus_ than to Neornithes.
In this case, Tyrannoraptora is a junior subjective synonym (same clade,
different definition) of Maniraptoriformes.

Model III: Tyrannosauridae is closer to Neornithes than to _Ornithomimus_.
In this case (the one in Sereno's paper), Tyrannoraptora is technically part
of Maniraptora (but Sereno is using his "redefined" Maniraptora).

Sereno also provides new redefinitions for:
Ornithomimidae (all ornithomimosaurs closer to _Ornithomimus_ than to
_Shuvuuia_);
Ornithomimoidea (_Shuvuuia_, _Ornithomimus_, their most recent common
ancestor, and all descendants);
Alvarezsauridae (all ornithomimosaurs closer to _Shuvuuia_ than to
_Ornithomimus_);
Therizinosauridae (all maniraptoriforms closer to _Erlikosaurus_ than to
_Ornithomimus_, _Oviraptor_, or Neornithes [not fond of more than two anchor
taxa, but this one kinda works for me, in that it covers most of the bases...]);
and Oviraptoroidea (_Oviraptor_, _Caenagnathus_, their most recent common
ancestor, and all descendants).

                        Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                        Vertebrate Paleontologist
Deptartment of Geology                  Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland                  College Park Scholars
College Park, MD  20742       
Webpage: http://www.geol.umd.edu        Phone:301-405-4084
Email:tholtz@geol.umd.edu               Fax:  301-314-9661